RFI-EMI-GUY
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Later I got one of these Comstat 25A radios that had channel 22A and 22B in addition to 23 channels. It was quite the beast. Mine had one of those blue Turner +2 desk mikes for extra punch.
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CB has changed a bit
- Thread starter KMG54
- Start date
Later I got one of these Comstat 25A radios that had channel 22A and 22B in addition to 23 channels. It was quite the beast. Mine had one of those blue Turner +2 desk mikes for extra punch.
RFI-EMI-GUY
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duplicate deleted
I had this "gem" in the early 80's. Someone saw me on the crappy ch 14 walkie and gave it to me. Needless to say I loved it and started playing with power supply options and antennas, even built a crude VFO for later radios that destroyed my father's am radio lol.
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Yeah I had one of those Turner base microphones also and I do remember the two business channels
I think us oldies are coming back try to find a space between the arrogant hams and the arrogant CB's
I checked into Chicago tonight on 38 LSB running a uniden 980 barefoot.
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Fortunately the hams that I know in my club and surrounding clubs are pretty decent, as far as CB's there aren't any except an occasional pair of trucks or so on the turnpike just passing through. There's no regular participants on CB in my area that are in my range anyway.
As I was saying I hope there's a new group who will treat things a little more professionally and become active. I might get involved in something like that.
W8HDU
Member
I don't hear a fraction of the traffic on channel 19 as there was years ago. However, there are still stations out there, and also freebanders which show up. Although most freebanders I've heard are more mission driven than just your general chit-chats and QSL hunters like it was in the late 70s and early 80s.
N1EXA
FT8 Huntin Mudd Duck on the deep end of the pond !
The 3 dedicated Freeband Channels to monitor are 27.445 ,27.455 and 27.555 and .455 and .555 are USB mainly.
We have 40 channels but many other counties run way above 27.405 like Brazil and Russia.
There is allot out there when the Band opens up.
Pete N1EXA
W8HDU
Member
Pete, have you ever listened below channel 1? I've heard some "quick" QSOs, likely preppers or suvivalists, as well as some packet. Most are FM, and I heard one transmission with what sounded like voice-inversion.
N1EXA
FT8 Huntin Mudd Duck on the deep end of the pond !
We have a bunch of Locals down under ch-1 here all in Spanish...Remember the Military and Fishing industery have channels above and below CB.
I run an SDR off the Galaxy Saturn and see suff above and below 1-40 and including these Broad Banded Sweeps of Radar pulses from
some military or Weather Service.
W8HDU
Member
We also have an RPU at 26.31000 and 26.41000 FM which people hear from time to time. But I have heard Spanish a few times, but mostly either AM or SSB.
N1EXA
FT8 Huntin Mudd Duck on the deep end of the pond !
Are you just using A HF rig and tumbling through the band or are you Using SDR and looking at a big picture them homing in ?
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W8HDU
Member
KiWi SDR for listening, once we know the interference is there.
NC1
Member
Around here locally (about a 4 or 5 county area) there are about 7 channels or so in regular use and are civil 99% of the time. I got my first CB around the mid 70's and got my license later in the early 80's when I was old enough to get one. This is what got me into radio: 
slowmover
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No one is better at knowing the truck stops and areas, way back, that mattered to me, than you...
Times back, before the China virus, you are very familiar with Bordentown and all the truck stops there and you know I live within about 6 miles as a crow flies from there with all the wonderful facilities for truckers and we had a few of our own on the Pennsylvania side.
With my antenna farm up to snuff, I'm just not hearing it anymore!
I have to say thank you to everyone for making me feel so young.
Around 1974/75 I found an "intercom" in the basement. It was a strange looking device with the momentary switch built into the front of the cabinet. It was a "V" shaped switch that you pushed down to transmit and had a built in telescoping antenna. I have no idea who the manufacturer was as I was only 7-8 years old, but I was fascinated by the traffic. I learned later that it was on channel 14 and a local ambulance service had their dispatch on the channel. I recognized the importance of the traffic, but when it was quiet I would have conversations with the crews and was amazed with the friendliness that they would show. No one told the little kid to get off the radio and they seemed to actually get a kick out of talking with me. Would never fly today. I was bitten and it never went away.
A few years later, my best friend was given a Lafayette base station by his uncle who was a State Trooper. It had come out of his barracks when they upgraded and was going to be thrown out. I believe it was in the HB400 line, but didn't have the knowledge to understand the difference in models at that time. I was limited in range by the back of the set antenna but had a lot of fun with it-it actually started living at my house as my friend didn't share the interest. This was in the "Smokey and the Bandit" popularity time and a 23 channel radio had lots of activity. My father had a Midland 13-882C in the car and I became quite active on both radios. As time went on, I spent more and more time on those radios. I started working in 1982 and the first thing I saved up for was a TRC-421A, power supply and a Radio Shack 1/4 wave base antenna. That's when the real fun started. I made lots of contacts and developed many friendships that still exist to this day.
The following Christmas, my parents got me a Washington base station and I upgraded to a 5/8 wave RS base antenna the following spring. When I got my license and my first car, my 421A and a Bearcat 220 were almost immediately mounted on the transmission hump.
The CB stayed in my cars for several years, finally being pushed aside when I joined a buff network on a GMRS frequency and was replaced with a Uniden Force mobile.
I have had a handheld unit for several years and keep it in the car but as everyone has mentioned, there just isn't the same activity. With an SDS200 and a 996XT in the console (as well as an Icom 2821D in the console and an ID-4100A on a mount) I will set the 996XT to service search the CB frequencies and occasionally will pick up a conversation or two, but nothing like it used to be. Last year, when the Canadian Border Patrol staged their "work-to-rule" protest I happened to be in Detroit. That was some of the most active use of the frequencies I've seen in over 30 years. I did have a few conversations that day and it brought back a lot of memories.
I have thought about switching out the 996XT for a 980SSB as the power cord and Havis plate are the same for both radios, but keep jumping the fence on pulling the trigger. I'm travelling to Baltimore next week and might pick up a cheap radio to hook up to an NMO27B for the ride just to see what happens and make a decision from that.
Thank you to all who have posted here, it has brought back some very good memories. Sorry for the length of the post.
Around 1974/75 I found an "intercom" in the basement. It was a strange looking device with the momentary switch built into the front of the cabinet. It was a "V" shaped switch that you pushed down to transmit and had a built in telescoping antenna. I have no idea who the manufacturer was as I was only 7-8 years old, but I was fascinated by the traffic. I learned later that it was on channel 14 and a local ambulance service had their dispatch on the channel. I recognized the importance of the traffic, but when it was quiet I would have conversations with the crews and was amazed with the friendliness that they would show. No one told the little kid to get off the radio and they seemed to actually get a kick out of talking with me. Would never fly today. I was bitten and it never went away.
A few years later, my best friend was given a Lafayette base station by his uncle who was a State Trooper. It had come out of his barracks when they upgraded and was going to be thrown out. I believe it was in the HB400 line, but didn't have the knowledge to understand the difference in models at that time. I was limited in range by the back of the set antenna but had a lot of fun with it-it actually started living at my house as my friend didn't share the interest. This was in the "Smokey and the Bandit" popularity time and a 23 channel radio had lots of activity. My father had a Midland 13-882C in the car and I became quite active on both radios. As time went on, I spent more and more time on those radios. I started working in 1982 and the first thing I saved up for was a TRC-421A, power supply and a Radio Shack 1/4 wave base antenna. That's when the real fun started. I made lots of contacts and developed many friendships that still exist to this day.
The following Christmas, my parents got me a Washington base station and I upgraded to a 5/8 wave RS base antenna the following spring. When I got my license and my first car, my 421A and a Bearcat 220 were almost immediately mounted on the transmission hump.
The CB stayed in my cars for several years, finally being pushed aside when I joined a buff network on a GMRS frequency and was replaced with a Uniden Force mobile.
I have had a handheld unit for several years and keep it in the car but as everyone has mentioned, there just isn't the same activity. With an SDS200 and a 996XT in the console (as well as an Icom 2821D in the console and an ID-4100A on a mount) I will set the 996XT to service search the CB frequencies and occasionally will pick up a conversation or two, but nothing like it used to be. Last year, when the Canadian Border Patrol staged their "work-to-rule" protest I happened to be in Detroit. That was some of the most active use of the frequencies I've seen in over 30 years. I did have a few conversations that day and it brought back a lot of memories.
I have thought about switching out the 996XT for a 980SSB as the power cord and Havis plate are the same for both radios, but keep jumping the fence on pulling the trigger. I'm travelling to Baltimore next week and might pick up a cheap radio to hook up to an NMO27B for the ride just to see what happens and make a decision from that.
Thank you to all who have posted here, it has brought back some very good memories. Sorry for the length of the post.
slowmover
Active Member
I t
I thought of asking you what CB antenna you have and what height is the feedpoint (maybe I’ve asked), as I look at your posts in a similar fashion.
AM-19 exists, in profusity, but for many readers here it would appear to be hit or miss.
Foreign drivers is what I’d suspect for much of what you aren’t hearing. Long range loads out of Cali or the Texas valley on the way to Hunters Point.
Much of the other trucking shifted to 81 and is offloaded near Allentown (as I’ve related). The fleet trucks out of DCs maybe day cabs pulling pup trailers.
No sleeper. Super short trailer to make dedicated deliveries. Home every night. Same roads in main.
Swedesboro, NJ, where I got stuck for over a month. NJ-620 at IH-295 in sat pic is one of these newish “warehouse districts” you can study online. Trucks aren’t negotiating their way into the post WWII city with pre-1980 warehousing.
Elimination of competition and foreign manufacture changed trucking to reflect a now limited set of retail outlets (chains). Five national food processors. Etc. Stuff comes from sea & rail ports, the rest by truck.
I thought of asking you what CB antenna you have and what height is the feedpoint (maybe I’ve asked), as I look at your posts in a similar fashion.
AM-19 exists, in profusity, but for many readers here it would appear to be hit or miss.
Foreign drivers is what I’d suspect for much of what you aren’t hearing. Long range loads out of Cali or the Texas valley on the way to Hunters Point.
Much of the other trucking shifted to 81 and is offloaded near Allentown (as I’ve related). The fleet trucks out of DCs maybe day cabs pulling pup trailers.
No sleeper. Super short trailer to make dedicated deliveries. Home every night. Same roads in main.
Swedesboro, NJ, where I got stuck for over a month. NJ-620 at IH-295 in sat pic is one of these newish “warehouse districts” you can study online. Trucks aren’t negotiating their way into the post WWII city with pre-1980 warehousing.
Elimination of competition and foreign manufacture changed trucking to reflect a now limited set of retail outlets (chains). Five national food processors. Etc. Stuff comes from sea & rail ports, the rest by truck.
slowmover
Active Member
Population density is a problem best-served by doing so from adjacent areas.
See how IH-81 parallels old main trackage into Allentown. Sea cans from Norfolk, VA via rail & truck more likely than from Paramus.
No one serves the population. That’s over. They serve the designated successful chain retailers.
(Da wondas of WaWa!)
You can see why offloading cans at Wilmington, DE, while shorter in distance to Allentown is maybe not so in expense for crime and literal retard-IQ traffic getting across barrier both ways.
There are intra-company contracted loads back & forth from Charleston & Savannah (or Albany, GA) to Albany, NY & Allentown, PA. A guys trucking career can be those “drop & hook” loads for one of the big retailers (Target, for example). Go North. Go South. (Repeat).
That’s your now classic, out two weeks and home 1.5-day mega carrier driver. We’ve got the loads and the miles to get you home! No touch freight, and 80% drop & hook!
He’s not a driver. He’s a QR-code serving time.
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